OUTDOORS: Some animals worth hunting, some aren’t

While bagging your first turkey is probably worth the effort, getting an alligator is something not every hunter will deem necessary for the bucket list.

Rick Dowling | The Tuscaloosa News

By Robert DeWittOutdoors Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

Published: Friday, October 18, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, October 18, 2013 at 7:48 p.m.

While looking at the hunting regulations prior to going to Louisiana for teal hunting in September, I noted cinnamon teal were legal game in Louisiana. Now that piqued my interest. I’ve never killed a cinnamon. Not many folks in Alabama have.

“Very rarely,” guide Scott Ritchey answered when I asked how often they saw cinnamon teal on his Lake Charles, La., leases. In fact, he’d never shot one.

I guess cinnamon teal are legal to shoot here as well. Good luck with that. As far as I know, its range is from Texas west. But then again, we don’t get many black-bellied tree ducks here either.

My friend Robert Shell has a black-bellied tree duck on his wall in Decatur. I asked where he killed, and he pointed in the direction of his hunting club.

“Right out there,” he said.

It seems that he and his

father-in-law, the late Jim Frazier, were hunting on a lease in Lacey Springs near Huntsville. Three birds whizzed by and turned to come back, and they obviously weren’t mallards, gadwalls, teal or any of the common species.

“What is that?” Robert asked, hoping for a species identification.

“It’s a duck,” his father-in-law said. “Shoot it.”

Robert couldn’t argue with his elder’s logic and dropped one of them. He still didn’t know what he had when he picked it up.

If you’re a hunter, there’s something about shooting game that’s not normally available to you. I’ve taken just about one of everything on the list of legal game in Alabama with the exception of a turkey gobbler, an alligator and the rail and gallinule species.

I’ve given up on the turkey without ever trying very hard. I’ve had several friends who have sworn that they’ll see to it that I don’t die a turkey virgin, but they’ve yet to produce. I think they believed that if they took me turkey hunting, I’d catch on fire and join the fraternity.

Unfortunately, they underestimated my laziness, not to mention my tendency at being a little intimidated about learning new skills. I’ve tried at times to learn to use turkey calls, but it’s always turned out badly.

Turkey hunting certainly strikes me as an exciting, challenging sport. But for some reason, I’ve never developed a burning desire to shoot a gobbler. I would if I had the opportunity. I just haven’t had a desire to put myself in position to avail myself of that opportunity.

I have no desire whatsoever to kill an alligator. I do enjoy watching “Swamp People,” but I’ll let them keep their work to themselves.

My friend Jimmy Seale would always head over to The Lucky Snapper when we arrived in Destin and order an appetizer of fried alligator tail nuggets wrapped in bacon. They were almost good enough to make you want to shoot and skin a gator — almost. But it would take a lot to get me to kill an 8- to 12-foot lizard weighing hundreds of pounds, drag it into a boat and then skin and clean it.

There are barriers I’d have to overcome to kill a gobbler or a gator that frankly, I’m just not real motivated to overcome. But rail and gallinule, that’s another story. We’re talking about a bird that is common and numerous enough in parts of Alabama that the limit is 15 a day. And rail breast medallions are supposedly excellent eating.

From the video I’ve seen, it doesn’t fly as fast as a quail, a duck or a dove, so I have the skill to shoot it. But I wouldn’t even recognize a rail if I saw it. And while I’ve had plenty of turkey hunters offer to take me with them, I only know a couple of folks who’ve hunted rail and gallinule. They all live in coastal areas.

It was the aforementioned teal hunt that got me thinking about rail. We were sitting in the blind and a pair of shorebirds buzzed over is.

“What were those?” I asked.

“I think they were some kind of rail,” Ritchey said. They were gone before I could ask if they were in season. But it reminded me that I still had some unfinished business on the list of legal Alabama game.

After watching some videos about rail hunting, I think Ritchey was wrong about the birds so it’s good that I didn’t drop one. The rails in the video flew a little more clumsily and had bigger legs and feet. Folks tell me they’re really not very challenging to shoot.

<p>While looking at the hunting regulations prior to going to Louisiana for teal hunting in September, I noted cinnamon teal were legal game in Louisiana. Now that piqued my interest. I've never killed a cinnamon. Not many folks in Alabama have.</p><p>“Very rarely,” guide Scott Ritchey answered when I asked how often they saw cinnamon teal on his Lake Charles, La., leases. In fact, he'd never shot one.</p><p>I guess cinnamon teal are legal to shoot here as well. Good luck with that. As far as I know, its range is from Texas west. But then again, we don't get many black-bellied tree ducks here either.</p><p>My friend Robert Shell has a black-bellied tree duck on his wall in Decatur. I asked where he killed, and he pointed in the direction of his hunting club.</p><p>“Right out there,” he said.</p><p>It seems that he and his </p><p>father-in-law, the late Jim Frazier, were hunting on a lease in Lacey Springs near Huntsville. Three birds whizzed by and turned to come back, and they obviously weren't mallards, gadwalls, teal or any of the common species.</p><p>“What is that?” Robert asked, hoping for a species identification.</p><p>“It's a duck,” his father-in-law said. “Shoot it.”</p><p>Robert couldn't argue with his elder's logic and dropped one of them. He still didn't know what he had when he picked it up.</p><p>If you're a hunter, there's something about shooting game that's not normally available to you. I've taken just about one of everything on the list of legal game in Alabama with the exception of a turkey gobbler, an alligator and the rail and gallinule species.</p><p>I've given up on the turkey without ever trying very hard. I've had several friends who have sworn that they'll see to it that I don't die a turkey virgin, but they've yet to produce. I think they believed that if they took me turkey hunting, I'd catch on fire and join the fraternity.</p><p>Unfortunately, they underestimated my laziness, not to mention my tendency at being a little intimidated about learning new skills. I've tried at times to learn to use turkey calls, but it's always turned out badly.</p><p>Turkey hunting certainly strikes me as an exciting, challenging sport. But for some reason, I've never developed a burning desire to shoot a gobbler. I would if I had the opportunity. I just haven't had a desire to put myself in position to avail myself of that opportunity.</p><p>I have no desire whatsoever to kill an alligator. I do enjoy watching “Swamp People,” but I'll let them keep their work to themselves.</p><p>My friend Jimmy Seale would always head over to The Lucky Snapper when we arrived in Destin and order an appetizer of fried alligator tail nuggets wrapped in bacon. They were almost good enough to make you want to shoot and skin a gator — almost. But it would take a lot to get me to kill an 8- to 12-foot lizard weighing hundreds of pounds, drag it into a boat and then skin and clean it.</p><p>There are barriers I'd have to overcome to kill a gobbler or a gator that frankly, I'm just not real motivated to overcome. But rail and gallinule, that's another story. We're talking about a bird that is common and numerous enough in parts of Alabama that the limit is 15 a day. And rail breast medallions are supposedly excellent eating.</p><p>From the video I've seen, it doesn't fly as fast as a quail, a duck or a dove, so I have the skill to shoot it. But I wouldn't even recognize a rail if I saw it. And while I've had plenty of turkey hunters offer to take me with them, I only know a couple of folks who've hunted rail and gallinule. They all live in coastal areas.</p><p>It was the aforementioned teal hunt that got me thinking about rail. We were sitting in the blind and a pair of shorebirds buzzed over is.</p><p>“What were those?” I asked.</p><p>“I think they were some kind of rail,” Ritchey said. They were gone before I could ask if they were in season. But it reminded me that I still had some unfinished business on the list of legal Alabama game.</p><p>After watching some videos about rail hunting, I think Ritchey was wrong about the birds so it's good that I didn't drop one. The rails in the video flew a little more clumsily and had bigger legs and feet. Folks tell me they're really not very challenging to shoot.</p><p>Maybe someday, I'll find out.</p>